MICHAEL TRIMBLE

Artist Voice Teacher/Operatic Repertory Coach 

Trimble Vocal Institute, Director

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Internationally acclaimed as a vocal pedagogue, Mr. Trimble was appointed Chairman of Vocal and Choral Studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music upon his return to the United States from Europe in 1973.  In 1976, he opened his private voice studio in New York City and, at that time, established a close professional relationship with the late historical bass-baritone George London. Because of Mr. London's complete faith in Mr. Trimble's ability to teach singing in the great Bel Canto vocal tradition, Mr. London entrusted all of his National Opera Institute Grant winners, many of the great operatic singers of today, to Mr. Trimble for their vocal training and development. Mr. Trimble was a member of the voice faculty of the Aspen Music Festival from 1975 until his retirement from the Festival in 1990 .   In 1977, Mr. Trimble created the Aspen Vocal Institute.  From 1977 to 1983, under Mr. Trimble's direction, the Aspen Vocal Institute evolved into a laboratory for exploration of vocal repertoire geared to providing a wide spectrum of singers, voice teachers, conductors and stage directors, from beginners to professionals, with the opportunity to identify and realize their individual potential within a wide range of vocal literature. This goal was accomplished through means of improvisational techniques, the master class format, introductions and open discussions with performers and music business professionals in addition to extensive performance opportunities in opera, musical theatre and concerts. In 1982, Mr. Trimble produced five operas and fourteen concerts for the Aspen Vocal Institute. These productions and concerts were performed not only in Aspen but also in Denver and other communities throughout the state of Colorado as part of the Colorado Outreach Program. 

 

Mr. Trimble founded and directed the Sarah Lawrence College Summer Opera Workshop in 1977, during which time he produced a fully staged, critically acclaimed production of  Don Giovanni. He also helped to found the Inland Arts Society of California to which he served as Artistic Advisor and Co-Director of the Italian Opera Theatre Festival and Winter Workshop. 

 

In 1982, Mr. Trimble accepted a one-year position at the University of Texas at Austin as Senior Lecturer in Voice, teaching both applied vocal instruction and vocal repertory to undergraduate and graduate students in the Department of Music. His innovative course, "Protecting the Voice in Pop and Rock", was popular with a broad spectrum of university students, including voice teachers, voice therapists and other individuals outside of the Department of Music who were interested in the preservation and/or restoration of healthy vocal function. Mr. Trimble was one of two guest panelists, with Mr. Cornelius Reid, to lead the Seminar on Vocal Technique at the annual meeting of the New York Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing on February 9, 1986 in New York City. Mr. Trimble has been a member of NATS since 1975. 

 

In 1987, Mr. Trimble was consulted by Opera America in Washington D.C. as the leading authority on the vocal training and development of young singers between the ages of fourteen and eighteen. 

 

Mr. Trimble has presented master classes in New York City; Dallas; Los Angeles; Worcester, Massachusetts; Oklahoma City; Austin; Miami; Aspen; San Diego; Cleveland; Vancouver, B.C.; Vienna; Karlsruhe; Munich; Cologne; Geneva; Zurich; Lisbon; Barcelona and Berne.Singing students from around the world, from France, Germany, Holland, Sweden, England, Italy, Iceland, Canada, Scotland, Israel, Japan, China and Korea continue to seek Mr. Trimble's expert vocal instruction and advice. 

 

Mr. Trimble's students have won or placed in numerous prestigious American and European vocal competitions throughout the years, including the Montreal International Voice Competition; the Verdi-Busetto Voice Competition; The Munich Voice Competition; The Young Concert Artists' Competition in New York City; the 's-Hertztogenbosch International Voice Competition; The Metropolitan Opera Auditions; the Luciano Pavarotti Voice Competition; the Sullivan Foundation Award; the National Opera Institute Career Advancement Grants; the Richard Tucker Foundation Award and the George London Foundation Awards. Five of the six winners of the Verdi Vocal Competition held at the Aspen Music Festival during the summer of 1985 were students of Mr. Trimble. In 1989, Mr. Trimble's student was the first woman to win the Sibelius Award for Musical Excellence. In 1990, Mr. Trimble's students won the Bel Canto Competition; the Baltimore Opera Competition; the Chicago Lyric Opera Competition and the Enrico Caruso International Competition. 

 

Mr. Trimble's students have sung leading roles in virtually every major opera house in the world including The Metropolitan Opera; New York City Opera; The Vienna State Opera; La Scala; Covent Garden; Paris National Opera; San Francisco Opera; Chicago Lyric Opera; Salzburg Summer Festival; Glyndebourne Festival; Teatro Liceo de Barcelona; Wexford Festival; Edinburgh Festival; the opera companies of Australia, New Zealand, Munich, Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Verona. 

 

During 1991-92 alone, Mr. Trimble's students debuted at The Metropolitan Opera; New York City Opera; Berlin Opera; Cairo Opera; Connecticut Opera; Baltimore Opera, and Anchorage Opera. 

 

Mr. Trimble was appointed Opera Program Director of The New Jersey Opera Institute in Montclair, New Jersey in 1986. He immediately began developing and building a new and vital opera training program, including workshops, master classes, language study and performance opportunities, satisfying the needs of a full spectrum of singers, from the beginning student to the advanced student seeking professional management. Because of Mr. Trimble's successful programming, in 1987 he was nominated for the position of Artistic Director of The New School for the Arts/New Jersey Opera Institute by retiring Artistic Director, Mr. George Shirley.  As Artistic Director, Mr. Trimble directed and conducted sixteen operas at the Institute, including Norma, The Barber of Seville, Cavalleria Rusticana, La Boheme, Il Trovatore, Aida, Rigoletto, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Cosi fan tutte, Don Giovanni, Ballo in Maschera, Tosca and Don Pasquale, in addition to numerous concerts and benefit performances throughout the New Jersey area. As a result of performances produced at the New Jersey Opera Institute, within two years, six of Mr. Trimble's students were signed by professional management.

 

In recognition of his outstanding service and dedication to the field of Opera and Music Theatre in New Jersey, Mr. Trimble was presented with The Distinguished Service Award in June of 1989 by The New Jersey Opera Institute's Board of Directors. Mr. Trimble directed the production of seventy-seven events, providing over eight hundred performance opportunities for singers since July 1986.

 

The New Jersey Opera Institute performed on a regular basis for the minority and ghetto-environment school children in Newark, New Jersey and the surrounding areas. Mr. Trimble designed master classes specifically structured for underprivileged children from kindergarten through high school, and students at the School for the Performing Arts in Montclair, New Jersey. Under Mr. Trimble's direction, an even greater concern for community service developed, including holiday performances at the Veterans Hospital in East Orange, New Jersey; Alcoholics Haven Treatment Center at Mountainside Hospital in Montclair, New Jersey; senior citizen organizations and nursing homes; the Montclair Adult School, and Womens rights' organizations.

 

In 1990 , Mr. Trimble resigned from the New Jersey Opera Institute and accepted the position of General Director of the New York Vocal Institute/Jerusalem Vocal Institute. From 1990 -92, as General Director of the New York Vocal Institute/ Jerusalem Vocal Institute, Mr. Trimble presented a series of Career Entry Development Programs in New York and in Jerusalem, Israel, designed for the singer who had attained the career entry level and was ready for refinement of vocal technique, acting skills and audition presentation.   Using the master class format, Mr. Trimble presented a roster of distinguished guests: Olympia Dukakis/Academy-award winning Actress; Michael Harrison/General Director, Baltimore Opera Company; George Osborne/ General Director, Connecticut Opera Company; John Balme/Lake George Opera Festival-Liederkranz Foundation; Robert Lombardo/Robert Lombardo Associates, Artists' Representatives; John Miller/Artists' Representative-Robert Lombardo Associates; Joseph Rescigno/Florentine Opera; David Rubens/Opera Pacifica; Willie Waters/Greater Miami Opera; Franco Gratale/Hudson Opera Theatre; Louis Zorich/Actor of stage and screen; Tony Russo/Vice-President of ICM Artists-Director, Vocal Division; Paul Sperry/international concert tenor; Susan Wadsworth/Director, Young Concert Artists Association.  The classes offered participants in both the New York program and the Jerusalem summer program an opportunity to perform for and to benefit from an in-depth analysis and evaluation by Mr. Trimble and his many prominent guests. Mr. Trimble personally devoted a number of sessions to the demonstration of technical criteria, indispensable to the performer's success relative to the singer's appropriate voice catagory.

 

In 1992, Mr. Trimble formally established the Trimble Vocal Institute, consolidating under one roof his innovative development and performance programs and his professional voice studio.

 

Mr. Trimble and his wife, Cantor Pamela Trimble, moved to Naples, Florida in 1995. Upon their arrival in Naples, Mr. Trimble was invited by Director/CEO Myra Daniels of the Naples Philharmonic Center to present a series of opera concerts beginning with the 1996-97 Naples Philharmonic season.   Mr. Trimble's concert series met with great success. Opera Piccola!, the performance division of the Trimble Vocal Institute was born.

 

Despite Mr. Trimble's attempts to retire, he still maintains an active voice studio and vocal consultation service.  Mr. Trimble's article on breathing technique is now published, "Breathmaster:  An Insight into the Biomechanics of Great Singing", in the Journal of Synagogue Music; pgs. 188-210 ; copyright Fall 2010 ; volume 35; ISSN 0049-5128.  The article is available on the Web by clicking on the following link:  www.cantors.org.  The Trimble Vocal Institute is thriving on Bainbridge Island, Washington in the beautiful Pacific Northwest where Mr. Trimble and his wife relocated in 2001.